The Mystery of Hillsboro Island
by FLMARLINS18
Summary: PLEASE READ THIS! I know its a little long, but its really good if you take the time to read! Read the reviews first, see what they had to say!
1. Chapter 1

The Mystery of Hillsboro Island

Animal Crossing is a great game. I've liked it ever since my friend told me to get AC:WW. I was addicted for a while, but it just got boring. But I still love AC. I've been doing nothing for a while, and have been getting writing urges. So I decided to create this FanFic for AC:WW. This is my first FanFic and I hope I'm doing a good job writing so far. No flaming or spamming please, and thanks for reading my story so far! I'm going to try and write a little every night, so I won't have many delays. If you're wondering why my chapters are a little long, it's because of my writing style. I like to write longer, I feel it gives more details and makes you feel like your actually there, like the main character. Just read it. It doesn't take long to read a few pages. Thanks!

_About this Story:_

When 14-year old Nate decides to leave home, he sets out to live on an island known as Hillsboro Island, inhabited by humanlike animals. When he arrives, all the animals are deathly scared of him, like he doesn't belong, like they are terrified of him. But as the days pass, Nate makes friends and gets along with everyone on the island. Everything is going great until one animal gets killed, and then another, and another. All of the animals seem to be hiding something from Nate, and indeed they are. A mystery lies in the past of Hillsboro Island, which is tragic. Can Nate figure out the mystery and save the rest of the villagers, or will Nate's life be taken away before then?

_It's two in the morning, and I don't know where they are. I'm in the corner on the second floor of my house holding my axe, ready to swing;, no, kill; the first thing that moves. One animal is already dead tonight, another one seriously injured. The police aren't helping, the Mayor left. And they're coming. And I don't know where they are. I don't know. I just don't know..._

_-Chapter One-_

::Hillsboro Island My New Home::

That fish got away again!

I'm sitting on the small wooden dock, feet dangling out over the water, and have been trying to catch this Arowana that I saw swimming around in the pond. I need to catch it, or else Cook, or was it Nook? will be all over me again wanting money for his mortgage.

This business raccoon found me on my first day and gave me a house, if you can call it that. It's more like the smallest wooden shack on the planet, or at least on Hillsboro Island it is. Anyway, all I can fit there now is a cardboard box (oh so expensive), a candle, and a cheap springy bed. And the bed isn't even comfy. Bet I would have more fun sleeping on the cardboard box that that bed. Nook said once I earn more money, well, here they call it Bells, I can afford to upgrade to a much larger house. That is, once I pay off this house. That cheap wad is making me pay 19,200 Bells for this house, which is ridiculous. But oh well, at least I have a roof over my head, unlike that first night.

The first day here was just horrible. I cannot explain enough how bad it was.

So about myself. I'm Nate. I'm fourteen years old, not fat, not anorexic either. I'm just an only child and I'm around 5'6" with dark brown hair, about medium in length and have light skin. My family has always been more independent than others, you could say; my dad left home when he was only thirteen to go find a place of his own. I have been nagging at my parents to let me go somewhere, I was sick of the city. Sick of all the sounds, the lights, the people, the fake drama, the culture; it's all just too much for me. So it's been my dream to go find a place of my own, to follow what my father did.

So my parents finally agreed to let me go out into the world. My mom was skeptical at first; I think every mom is when their little baby finally decides that he wants to leave home. So she went with me to the public library to come across a few towns that I might be interested in.

A few hours later we read about Hillsboro Island, a remote setting about a thousand miles from where I am.

So that's where I was heading. Just the beginning of July and I am heading to Hillsboro Island.

I was having some doubts about coming here. But it was too late; I was already five hours into the journey riding this old train to the boat marina. A few other people were on the train with me also, but they got off at certain stops. So it looks like I'm the only guy heading to Hillsboro Island.

The train finally stopped at this place in the middle of nowhere. A lady in her mid-thirties with long brown hair inside the train station said the Marina was about a half mile from here. She said I could pay twenty bucks and she'd get one of the guys in the back to drive me, or I could walk it myself. I told her I'd walk it.

About twenty minutes later I arrived at the Marina. It smelled of dead fish and rotting ropes. There was only a single boat in the Marina; that's what the lady on the phone said there would be. There didn't seem to be any sign of life. But I saw something move into the cabin below the deck. Was he hiding? I decided to call out to it.

"Hello! Anybody there?"

No movement.

"Hey, it's Nate! I saw you move down there, now come on out so I can get to the island!"

This creature slowly moved his way from below the deck; it was a Snapping Turtle. It was pretty big too, almost my size. Unusually large for a turtle. I thought, "A turtle on a boat? What the heck?" until it said "Oh thank goodness. It's just you."

I don't know who was more surprised, him hiding, or me seeing a turtle just speaking perfect English to me. He must have seen this look of amazement on my face because he said "Oh, excuse me. My name is Kapp'n. You must have never seen an animal talk before. We all talk, well, in this area we do at least. So let's get moving shall we?"

Still amazed and speechless, I hopped onboard and sat down in the seat next to Kapp'n. I noticed he was wearing clothes also. More humanlike than an animal.

We pulled away from the dock and were riding the waves around 20 knots or so when I couldn't help feel that he thought something was wrong with me, like I was hiding something. While we were riding the waves he kept glancing nervously at me every few moments, almost appearing to be sure that I was staying still and not going to hurt him. I decided that it was just the long day, and I was thinking a little hard.

After Kapp'n stared suspiciously at me for a few more times, he said I can go to the cabin underneath and lie down if I wanted to. I told him I would.

That bed must have been comfy because Kapp'n was saying "Nate! Nate! Wake up! You have made it to Hillsboro Island."

I crawled lazily off the bed and did a little stretch-walk to loosen myself up. We both walked onto the dock.

"Well kid, you made it. Now your own your own." Kapp'n looked at me and patted me twice on the back and said "Good luck". Just something the way he said 'good luck'…I don't know. But it was just weird.

Well, whatever the good luck meant, Kapp'n walked back onto his boat and waved goodbye and away he went. I was on my own.

It was the evening about now, but that didn't matter. It made the island look simply amazing.

Hillsboro Island was a pretty neat place to look at, just by standing at the dock. It had hills placed sporadically across the landscape, dotted with trees here and there and healthy green grass growing all over the mainland of the island. Some trees had bananas growing in them, and I even saw a few coconut trees growing along near the shore. The largest hill, at the farthest part north on the island, apparently let a beautiful flowing waterfall fall into a crystal clear lake. The water splashed at the base, and moved down the lake into a river, which appeared to divide into two. Stone bridges arched across the rivers, allowing walkways. A golden fish jumped out of the water and landed back with a splash. Dragonflies buzzed around along with butterflies. It was simply gorgeous.

Then I noticed other things I hadn't at first; there were a few buildings and houses located here also. So at least I wasn't the only form of life here. I saw what seemed to be a town hall; two shops; a larger building, not sure what it was yet; and a few houses placed around, some larger than others. I noticed a police station too. I thought it was weird that there was a police station on the island, but I guess they just feel like having one. Also, I noticed other animals walking around on two legs, just like the turtle. So it seemed like I was on an island stuck with humanlike animals. Awesome. I saw a brown alligator, and this yellow duck just walking around, seeming to enjoy the island they lived on.

Fearing that the animals might run away like Kapp'n did, I tried to have a nicer approach to them. But they didn't seem to like me.

"Hey yellow duck! Woo-hoo! Over here! I'm Nate, the new person to the town."

The duck turned towards me and screamed bloody murder. I've never heard such a loud scream in my life as that duck. He screamed and screamed and flew his hands up into the air yelling "Human! Human! Run for your life!" The alligator must have heard him because he started screaming also. In a minute, they were back inside their houses and without a doubt locked their doors. And nothing in sight was moving. Not the animals, the dragonflies, nothing. Absolutely quiet. I don't think I've ever heard something so quiet in my life.

Great.

Night must have been closer than I thought because the sun was already starting to set. Clouds started forming overhead and it started to rain. So here I am, in the middle of the ocean on some place called Hillsboro Island soaking wet with no roof and hungry. I walked to a tree, pulled a few bananas down and began to eat them. Pretty tasty, even though they weren't ripen all the way.

After I was full of bananas, I tried to find the biggest tree I could find, and I found one near the northern end of the island. It had large branches and tons of leaves sticking out, so if I crouched at the bottom I didn't get wet that much. I looked up at the night sky and saw hundreds, no, thousands of stars shimmering in the deep black sky. I've never seen as much stars as I have than right now. It was almost as the stars were in a contest, to see who can shine brighter than the other. My mom would like to see the stars right now.

Sleepy and full, I drifted off into sleep…

"Hey! You! Human boy! Nate. Wake up. Rise and shine!"

It was early the next morning, the sun just slowly rising over the horizon on the east. A big brown raccoon wearing an apron was staring at me a few feet away, trying to wake me up.

"Hang on a second you crazy animal…let me stretch."

"Your second's up. Come on now. We have lots to explain to you. I'm Nook by the way. Nice island, yes?"

The raccoon Nook began to walk. I decided to walk with him. Maybe he was taking me somewhere?

"I'm Nate. I just got here yesterday…I tried to introduce myself to a few of the other animals on the island. They ran away screaming human. Now here you are, taking me somewhere. Why did the others run away?"

"Well, um. They thought you were, um, never mind about them. They'll like you soon enough.

We were now nearing this wooden shop, which had an old sign on the front that said "Nook's Cranny". I guess this was where he worked to make his money.

"So, this is my shop. It's pretty small now, but one day it will hopefully be bigger, yes?"

The raccoon opened the door and led me to a stool so I could sit down. He also threw me this shirt. I wondered what it was for.

"So you have no home yet? No worries. I can build you a house. But it won't be free, of course. But you can pay it off over time, paying a little bit each week. I can build it in a few hours. Your house will cost 19,200 Bells, but don't worry about that. You can pay it off when you run errands."

I stared in amazement. A raccoon was offering to build me a house.

"Errands? What errands?"

"Well, you have to pay your house off somehow don't you? Put on your shirt. Nice, yes? Now, I want you to deliver these few packages. I'll pay off 3,000 Bells of your mortgage if you do this, and plus you will know the towns people a little better. Now get to work."

Man that was tiring.

It was about mid-afternoon when I finally got back to Nook's shop. Sweat was dripping off of my face, because Joey, the yellow duck, challenged me to a race from one side of the town to the other. I beat him and he gave me a fishing pole as a prize.

Nook wasn't in his shop. So I decided to rest for a few minutes and check out my earnings. I delivered packages all day long, and met most of the people, er, animals on the island. They seemed to like me now. Whatever happened yesterday was just crazy. All the animals were very friendly also, giving me helpful tips. They seemed to like the fact that I was living with them, and tried to make my life easier. I stared at my newly acquired fishing pole, 850 Bells, and shovel I had just laid down on the floor. My other neighbor Alfonso had invited me to dinner at 6:00 that night, so that's where I was going tonight. Food sounded good.

I pocketed my items and decided to go find Nook, maybe he was done with my house.

Just as I left his shop, Nook ran up to me panting.

"Your house is all done, Nate. I put a lighting fixture, a bed, and a desk space in your house so you feel more at home. Good job today delivering the errands. Feel free to live in your house now."

I couldn't believe how small this place was. I don't even think it qualifies to be a house.

A small bed was stacked away in the corner, the lighting fixture was a candle, and the desk space was a box. A plain floor and plain wallpaper lined the house. So much for luxury. Well, it didn't matter. I saw a few household items in Nook's shop, so I guess when I have money to spare I can purchase a few items. As long as I had a roof over my head, and was healthy, that was fine with me.

I didn't want to spend all my time in this 'house' that made you claustrophobic so I decided to spend the few hours I had left until I had to go to Alfonso's house fishing and digging. One of the animals that I had to deliver errands to, Elvis, said that you can find fossils in the ground and catch fish in the stream. I wanted to try this out, to see for myself.

So there were things to do to keep myself busy.

The next morning I woke up and thought that the food last night was delicious. Alfonso was a vegetarian, which didn't bother me. If we had eaten roast duck, I think Joey might have been a little offended. The green beans and potatoes we had were delicious. Our conversation we had was pretty good too. I'm surprised I could have so much fun talking to an animal.

Alfonso told me all about our town. I learned that the building that I didn't know what it was, was a museum that you could donate to. In the town hall there was a bank for them to hold your money, and gain interest, and the mail was also delivered and picked up there. Alfonso explained about Nook's shop, the Able Sister's clothing store shop, the other neighbors, the police station, and even about a place everyone refers to as The Gates.

The Gates, as Alfonso explained, was like a teleportation device that allowed anyone you wanted to, to come onto the island and visit you. He seemed a little worried talking about it to me, but it didn't matter. Alfonso was helpful. He told me to check the recycling bin for trash. Sometimes you could sell it back to Nook for Bells.

So as I woke up that morning, I picked a banana off a tree for breakfast and headed to the recycling bin.

I couldn't believe what I found! It was this moon decoration for your house. At first I was going to keep it, but it would be too big for my tiny closet. So I sold it to Nook for a few thousand Bells. Helps to pay off the mortgage.

Nook also told me that I could sell fish to him for Bells. I had no luck the day before catching fish, but I had a feeling I could catch some today. Nook explained to me that there is this one fish called an Arowana, a long, slender, gray to orange fish with a curved mouth that was worth 10,000 Bells. I decided to go search for one.

So that's how I found myself sitting on the small, wooden dock sticking out into the pond trying to catch an Arowana that kept getting away…

If you read this far, thanks for reading my first Fanfic! Feel free to post any comments that you may have, and wait for Chapter 2!

I promise that Chapter 2 gets much more interesting, someone dies. And it leads us deeper into the Mystery of Hillsboro Island…


	2. Chapter 2

_-Chapter Two-_

::The Party::

I finally caught the Arowana!

It was hard to catch, but I did it. Now I knew why Nook pays 10,000 Bells for one; so hard to catch. Once I had the orange fish hooked, reeling it in was a pain. They also fight hard too; he went under a few bridges a few times trying to get unhooked.

I was all the way on the east side of Hillsboro Island. Nook's shop was on the west side. I would have to make a run for it before this fish died.

All I could hear for a few minutes was the sound of my feet crunching dead leaves and clattering off the bridges as I ran for Nook's shop. I ran past one of my neighbors, Whitney, who was in her front yard watering her prize flowers. She had blue roses, black roses, and some other colorful flowers I saw. I told myself I'd get some of those soon.

I needed to get this fish some water. I could feel it thrashing around in my deep pocket. Nook's shop was only a hundred yards ahead, 100 feet, 20 feet, and I was there. I was about to bolt through the door until this fat owl came out of the shop.

"Oh ho! So you must be the new human boy that everyone is talking about, eh? I've heard a lot about you so far."

"Yes, yes, that's great. Now if you don't mind, I have to get this fish some water before it dies."

The owl moved aside and let me through. But he followed me back into the shop. Wasn't he just leaving? I didn't care. I needed to get this fish some water.

In the corner of the room, there was a fish tank on display for sale. Oh well, I thought. It would have to do. I dumped the fish into the tank and it seemed to enjoy itself; fresh oxygen and water is better than my pocket.

I turned around to go find Nook, when the owl went "Oh ho! That's an Arowana! A very rare fish indeed! These fish are very hard to find and give an excellent fight when hooked, eh? They also taste very well. That is probably why you brought it here…" He had a saddened expression on his face after that. "Well anyways, I'm Blathers. I run the museum at the other end of the Island. We have a few sections, with a few donations in each. I have set up a Painting display room, a Gyroid display, a fossil display, a bug display, and a fish display, and a nice Café lounge. We also have a nice observatory so visitors can view the stars. Of course with the fish we keep them alive and happy. Donations are always accepted for display. That Arowana you have would make a very nice addition to our small display…but I understand that Nook here is probably paying a hefty price for that fish. It's okay."

Blathers turned to leave, but I called out "Hey! You can have my fish. I'll be glad to donate it"; which is not exactly true. 10,000 Bells would be pretty nice to have. But then again, I just want to be friends with everyone for now. Enemies aren't necessarily a good thing.

"Oh thank you! Thank you! Your donation is greatly appreciated! We will forever be in your debt."

Blathers seemed to pull a bucket out of nowhere, and scooped up some water and the fish out of the tank and then again thanked me. He was heading back to the museum; I guess he lived there or something. I decided to follow; you know, check things out a little. Maybe get something in the Café and view the place around a little. Museums are always cool to me.

So I made another friend.

Oh how I love free meals. I was getting another one that night.

When I had got to the museum with Blathers, he placed the fish right into the tank, along with some other fish. The Arowana checked its surroundings and swam to the top where there was a bright green lily pad and ate a tiny insect. It swam back down to the bottom and floated around with the other fish. I then realized how beautiful it looked glowing bright orange in the water. I'm now glad I hadn't sold it to Nook and chose it to live happily in a tank for everyone to see such a rare creature.

Everything else here was cool too. The bug room had butterflies and dragonflies all over the place, along with crickets and beetles and all sorts of interesting creatures. The fossil room was pretty cool too. A large T' Rex was reaching its way towards the ceiling in fossil stage, a few fossilized eggs were scattered around, and so were parts of other dinosaurs.

I was looking at some interesting Paintings on display, wondering how these artists' had enough time and dedication to make such wonderful art when I bumped into Elvis.

Elvis is a male lion, with a large face. Muscles rip through his body; you can tell that this is a powerful animal. He also wore a little crown on the top of his head, dignifying richness and royalty. He told me about how he saw the Arowana that I had caught on display, and offered to get me a cappuccino in the Café lounge. Can't say no to something like that.

That pigeon wasn't kidding when he said that his cappuccino was 'The Best Cappuccino in the World'. He even added this world-famous 'pigeon milk' to the drink. It was probably pigeon crap, but if it is, that stuff is magical because it tastes great. Wasn't too hot, or too cold. Just perfect.

While I was sipping on heaven, Elvis told me a lot about the town, and himself. I found out that his family was always rich, down to his great ancestors. A long time ago his ancestors were royalty on some faraway island, and the blood has been passed down ever since. That's why he wore a crown on his head. He said that he would visit other towns sometimes and buy paintings to donate to the museum; all the Paintings came from Elvis. He told me about a few townspeople; Wolfgang, Roscoe, Apollo, and a few others whom names I can't remember right now. He also said every Saturday night in the Café a dog named K.K. Slider played his guitar and took requests to play. Today was a Friday, so I told him I'd check him out tomorrow night.

The cappuccino was almost gone, and I could tell the conversation was also. Just as I was about to leave Elvis said "Hey, I'm having a get-together party tonight for the whole Island, and you can come if you want. It starts at eight."

"You don't have to ask me twice."

This would be great, I thought. Free food and I get to know the people living on the Island a little better. Hopefully everything would go great tonight.

Hopefully.

My new clock that I found in the recycling bin that sat on my cardboard box read 7:38; I would have to get moving soon.

I finished putting on my black collared shirt and stepped outside to check my reflection in the water.

A handsome boy of fourteen looked back at me from the water. He was wearing a black collared shirt that said in green letters _Lazy Days_ where a shirt pocket would go. A white undershirt was under that, so you could see it a little bit, pretty stylish. And blue jean shorts and a black hat topped off the appearance; I was ready for the party.

My house was on the west side of the Island, Elvis's on the far northeast. I figured it would take me ten minutes just to walk straight across, but that's no fun. I took the beach instead; it wove its way all around the Island.

Sunsets are beautiful; I realized this walking on that beach. The whole Island was surrounded by water and it seemed to glow in the sunlight. The sun painted rays of color across the clouds, turning them purple with little pink clouds scattered here and there. The sky turned a lighter blue on the west mixed with the black sky on the east. A giant cloud covered the sun, but not all the way, so it was one of those suns where you could look right at it and see the perfect circle of the sun, but not hurt your eyes. A little white flash appeared across the sky; a shooting star. I didn't bother wishing. Wishing usually doesn't come true for me.

I was nearing Elvis's house now. He told me where it was, but I haven't seen it yet. He told me that once you got close enough, you couldn't miss it. Elvis wasn't lying.

This house was huge. More like a mansion than an Island house. It was three stories high with rooms leading off to other rooms on all sides and had a turquoise roof. I couldn't wait to see what they looked like inside.

I knocked on the door that was taller than my house and Elvis opened it. He was wearing a nice buttoned down shirt and styled jeans, and of course the small crown; this lion knew style.

"Well if it isn't Nate. You look handsome tonight. Welcome." And he led me in.

My mouth dropped in shock as I entered.

This house was utterly gorgeous.

Warmth and wonderful food smells greeted me as I entered the house. A large gold chandelier with crystals hung down from the ceiling, casting light and shadows across the main room. The high quality floor tile was a yellow-orange, and the deep red walls matched perfectly with this. Dark brown leather furniture such as large sofas and chairs were placed around, to accompany many people. Rich brown wood furniture resembling cabinets and armoires were around the main room also. A large 60" flat panel TV was mounted on the wall, with a large leather sofa in front of that. Animals from the Island were talking, holding glasses of juice in their hands, enjoying themselves. Everything looked simply amazing. I hoped to have a house like this one day.

"Wow Elvis. Your house is beautiful."

"Thanks Nate. I worked very hard on it. Now make yourself at home and talk with some of the animals while I finish dinner."

I looked at all the animals. Every one of them was dressed up, just like me and Elvis. They knew this was a good party.

Everyone was here; and I mean everyone. Kapp'n was here; the Mayor, Tortimer; Joey, the yellow duck; Alfonso, the brown alligator; a teddy bear looking animal called Stitches; Whitney, the white wolf; Wolfgang, a dark blue wolf; Blathers, the owl from the museum; Celeste, Blather's sister who ran the Observatory at the museum; O' Hare, this brown rabbit with gold hair; Roscoe, a shady looking black horse; Apollo, a bald eagle; the two guards who guarded The Gates and who were also the police; and last but not least, K.K. Slider. Everyone was here, except Nook and the Town Hall girls. I guess they had to get up early in the morning. Tonight would be a fun night though, to meet everyone.

I decided to talk to Alfonso first, talk to someone I knew. We began talking, while Alfonso led me to the punch table. There, I met K.K. Slider and him and I began to talk for a while. He's a little awkward; he talks really fast and always carries around his guitar. But other than that, he's cool. I always liked music, especially guitars. So K.K. and I were off to a great start.

Elvis came out after my conversation with K.K. He made an announcement.

"Ahem, if I may have your undivided attention everyone. Great. Now, I have a riddle for all of you. It may trick some of you, it may not. But you'll find out the answer soon enough. Now the riddle is 'What is the most beautiful sound in the world?' Hm? Anyone have an answer?"

K.K. Slider was the first to speak up. "It is by far the guitar; nothing sounds better than a guitar. I would know."

"Are you crazy?" said Whitney. "It is the harp. It is the most romantic sound on the planet."

"No you guys have it all wrong" spoke Joey. "It is the rain. Rain is the best sound, and the most relaxing."

"Well, so far every one of you is wrong. But you'll find out the answer tonight." He then turned back into the kitchen and went back to work.

Instantly, the whole room began to buzz with chatter about what the answer might be. Nobody knew, and I honestly didn't know either. Guess we would have to find out.

Elvis didn't show up for the next hour, he was probably cooking. But that was fine with me; I got to know everyone that lived in the town.

Stitches is a little shy at first, but talks a lot once you get to know him. He's been named Stitches ever since he was born because of his irregular colors on his body, almost like stitching patterns. Roscoe is alright, but he tends to be quiet more often. He's an all black horse, and naturally shady looking, so that's not always a good thing. O' Hare is a little on the awkward side; he changes subjects a lot. As for the gray-bearded Tortimer, he's just old. He likes to tell stories about his childhood a lot, and some are surprisingly interesting. He carries around cane to help him walk everywhere. But other than those minor details, the animals are pretty cool.

I didn't get a chance to talk to Whitney and Wolfgang that much; they were in a deep conversation sitting on one of the couches. I felt a little romance being brewed between the two, since they were both wolves. An Island couple in the making, how sweet.

By now it was 10:30. Surely the food would be ready by now. Obviously it wasn't.

Now its 11. A few of the animals were getting agitated. Great, that's what I needed. Stuck in a room with two angry wolves.

I looked outside and pressed my nose to the cold glass; it was really dark outside. Really dark. Just the lights by The Gates and a few from the other houses were all the light that there was on this tiny desolate Island. But other than that, it was pitch black. Different from the city.

It was almost 11:20 and Wolfgang was about to blow the kitchen door down when Elvis opened it up clanging some dishes. They made a tingling sound, and everyone stared at him; we wanted to know what had taken so long.

"The answer to the riddle is that the best sound in the world is clanging dishes when you are terribly hungry. Har har har har har!"

Everyone groaned. But I laughed inside my head, because I knew he was so right.

"You may now eat."

Oh I was stuffed. I thought I never ate so much food in my life.

The food was delicious. As soon as Elvis laid down all the platters of steaming food on a long table with a white tablecloth on it, everyone attacked the plates and began piling food. And man was that good.

We were all done eating now, and we were just relaxing on the sofas, letting our body's relax from the cramming of food down our esophagi. We talked about how the riddle had tricked us all. That lasted a while. It was nearing 1 a.m. when everyone decided to go home.

We were all piling out of the mansion, Elvis saying his goodbyes, Wolfgang and Whitney walking out arm in arm. He shook each of our hands as we passed by, saying what a pleasure it was to have such nice animals and a human living on such a wonderful Island. Joey and I decided to walk out together. Joey told me he'd stay with me to my house, since my house came before his.

As we were walking across the Island, I couldn't help wonder how dark it seemed. The alleys in the city at night weren't this dark; there was always some form of light. But here, besides the moon, there was nothing. Just pitch black. I only knew my way around because Joey has lived here for a while and knew his way.

Have you ever got that feeling where you just think that you're being watched? Well, it scares the crap out of me. I'm sure it was just because of the dark, but my heart rate began to quicken. I seemed more alert, my ears listening to every crunch of a leaf that we walked over. My eyes, seeing every tiny shadow cast by a tree. My body was tense, and Joey felt this.

"Hey, hey buddy. You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…I'm fine Joey. Just a little dark that's all."

"Oh, that's okay. You'll get used to the dark after a while. Nothing to be afraid of here."

Did a shadow just hide behind that tree? I was sure of it. Maybe it was my imagination. It looked like another figure. A human figure. Maybe my mind was seeing things. Maybe not. Yes, that had to be it. My mind was playing tricks on me that was all. Whatever it was, I'm terrified right now. Ah, finally. My house was showing up in the distance, the candle inside casting light to the windows. Joey and I walked a little faster now, and I got to my door. We said our goodbyes, and I went inside my little house and locked the door.

Light was good. Light was very good. It allowed a human to see, and that's what humans depended on most; their eyesight. I was happy to be in my house, as small as it was. Here, I was safe from whatever imaginary thing my brain conjured.

I was lying on my side in my bed, thinking about the fun party, about whether to go fishing or fossil hunting tomorrow when I heard Joey scream.

I sat up in bed, my body alert and tense. Was that Joey? Yes, it had to be Joey. He screamed on the first day I appeared, and he just screamed the same way. It was Joey. Was he hurt? I didn't know. There was only one way to find out.

Petrified as I was, I slipped my shoes back on my feet and stepped outside into the night.

Where had the scream come from? I couldn't remember. My heart was beating a million miles a second. Wait, his house was on the left of mine. So that means he was heading that way. I started off to my left.

Every leaf was heard, every rustle of the wind was listened to, every shadow was glanced at; nothing was unnoticed in the darkness of the night.

Where was Joey? In the little light that the moon had provided, I could not see anything. I had heard about these things called Pitfall Seeds at the party; when you fell in one, you fell into this hole, and it took some time to get out. In the night he might have fell into one and gotten hurt, I wouldn't know. I just needed to find Joey. _Where_ _was he?!_

I was about to turn around, retracing my steps and take a wider area to look when I heard a voice.

"Nate…help me…take it out. Before I die, please, take it out."

It was Joey's voice.

I stared in disbelief, it wasn't possible.

Five feet away from me lay Joey on the ground. The grass surrounding him was stained with a dark red liquid; blood. I didn't think it was possible to see that much blood at once. It seemed like gallons and gallons of it.

In his stomach, an axe was wedged right in the middle of his stomach, the other end sticking out of the other side. It was sickening; I couldn't keep looking at it. I decided to look at Joey's face instead.

"Joey…what happened?" My eyes were wide with horror; I had no clue what to do. I'm just a fourteen year old kid! What do I know?!

"Just take it out first. I'll explain after." He could barely speak. Each word he spoke sounded like it took every once of strength in his body just to make a sound.

I just stared at Joey, not sure what to do.

"Nate…please."

I wrapped my hands on the handle of the axe and pulled away from his body. It wouldn't move at first. I tried again. It wouldn't budge. I tried one last time and the axe slid loose from Joey's body. It was sickening. I tried to hold myself from regurgitating that night's meal.

"Thank you Nate…" He was dying. I could tell. The way he was acting, talking, I could just tell.

"Joey…what happened to you?"

"It was...them…Jas…man…hock…ask…axe..."

I couldn't understand what Joey was saying. Them? Jas? Hock ask? What was he saying?

"Joey, I don't understand."

With his last once of strength Joey lifted his head and stared at me with his beady eyes. I felt so bad for Joey; there was nothing I could do, nothing anybody could do, except to be there with him.

I crouched down and pet Joey's side, to make him feel loved as he died. I knew seconds remained.

Joey tried to speak but no words came out. It was hard for him to speak, it just had to be. Finally, he managed a whisper.

"Just tell the others…that I said…it wasn't you…that it was him." That was all that Joey had said before he had closed his eyes.

I couldn't believe it. Joey was dead. How can Joey be dead? How? Why?

So now here I am, standing over a dead duck, clutching a bloody axe in my right hand and the two wolves decide to take their midnight love stroll right past me.

Whitney stared at me in shock. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

I started to talk fast. "It's not what you think! It wasn't me! I left my house because I heard Joey scream and I found him here! It's not what you think!"

"I told that old tortoise Tortimer that we shouldn't allow a human here. And look what happens." Whitney was still staring at me in shock as she spoke.

"I told you! It wasn't m-" But before I could finish, Wolfgang hit me on the side of my head. I fell onto the ground and vaguely remember both of them howling and screaming "The human boy killed the duck!" before blackness took over my body.

I awoke to voices, many voices. Animal voices. My head was throbbing on the right side, probably swollen. Wolfgang must have hit me harder than I thought. But I didn't dare open my eyes. Just listened.

"…wasn't him! He's innocent I tell you! It's not like him!"

"How are you going to tell me otherwise? He was standing over him at 2 in the morning with an axe in his hand! Of course it was him!"

"Will you all shut up? We don't know if it was him or not yet. When he wakes up we'll question him and found out."

"I still think it was him. He's a traitor I tell you! _He's_ _one of them!_ We must get the boy off of the Island before others are killed!"

"No, it's not him. It can't be. He's normal, the others did this."

With my head injured and my body tired, I just needed to sleep.

"We'll ask him after Joey's ceremony."

That was all I heard before sleep swarmed my body.


	3. Chapter 3

_-Chapter Three-_

::The Funeral::

Oh my head hurt.

I woke up in a bed with white sheets, the sun shining in on my face, and the right side of my head just _throbbing_.

Groggily, I opened my eyes and rubbed my head. What happened? I couldn't remember.

Then it all came flooding back. The party. Joey. The voices.

I looked around now. Nobody was here, but to my left there a door ajar and sunlight was pouring in through the crack. I decided to go out there.

I walked out the door, and to my amazement, no one was here. There should be animals walking around, enjoying the day, and making money. But no one was outside.

And where was Joey? Did they take his body away? Where was he anyways when he died? Wait, it was about fifty yards to the left of the large cliff. Yes that was it. I was sure of it.

I started to walk in that direction.

Wow. The sun can be hot. I haven't been out here for five minutes and already I'm sweating.

Trees started appearing around me, I was getting close to the site.

Few more yards and I would be there. I couldn't see that well, because the dense trees around here. I made a mental note to clear some trees and organize fruit orchards here instead.

I made it to the site. Yellow police tape surrounded the area, being taped from tree to tree, blocking the path. There was no dead body here, just a wide area of dark red stained grass. I stared in rejection. It really did happen…

I left the area quickly after that. I couldn't take it; Joey was my friend. He was one of the first animals that actually talked to me after that freak-incident on the first day.

I started to run towards the cliff in an emotional breakthrough. I kept running, and felt tears coming on. I tried to hold them back, but I couldn't do it. A tear streamed down my left cheek and quickly evaporated away.

Emotions switched, and now I was angry. Who killed Joey? Who in their right mind would kill such an innocent animal? I was sure he didn't do anything to make anyone mad. Why did Joey have to die! Why! Why?!

I made it to the top of the cliff, and my blood boiling inside. I stared out at the ocean, and listened to the wind blow. Everything was so peaceful, but fifty yards from this spot my friend just died. This angered me.

I grabbed a banana from the nearest tree and threw it as far as I could. My eyes pinpointed on it as it sailed its way through the air and landed with a yellow splatter in Apollo's yard. I hoped I didn't get in trouble for that.

The wind still blew into my face, ruffling my hair, as I sat down in the lush grass and stared out to the ocean. Somewhere down in the water there was a lot of splashing. My eyes focused on it and a shark was chasing a smaller fish, making lots of splashes. I wondered how my parents were doing back at home. Maybe I should go back. Maybe I shouldn't.

After a few minutes, I got up and calmly walked down the cliff, my emotions now under control. I decided to go check out the Bulletin Board by the Town Hall, to see what was up with the town.

I stared at the board. A big fat paper in bold font in front of the others said "The funeral for the death of Joey will be held at Skull Island at 9 this morning. Anyone interested in coming, please meet at the dock before 8:45 a.m. and Kapp'n will transport you to the funeral. R.I.P. Joey."

Right now it was 10:30 a.m.

So that's why no one was here, they were all paying their respects to Joey on some place called Skull Island. I wondered if that was where the animals' cemetery is.

So I have the whole island to myself. Cool, in a way. But what am I going to do for the next few hours? I didn't feel like fishing, but I was in a Sherlock Holmes mood. Let's go see if I can find any clues.

Down the cliff I went and I arrived at the police scene. Now how was I going to do this? Joey had an axe stuck in him; that much I knew. Did someone stab him? Or did someone throw it? Whitney was blabbering something last night about how "I knew we shouldn't let the human on the island", so that might be a clue. I had no idea where to start.

I ducked under the yellow police tape, and something attracted me to the blood stains on the ground. There were splatters, some more in areas than others. Joey was staggering it seemed like, like he was trying to walk still. I tried to make a video of Joey walking in the night in my head, to better visualize the scene.

In my head, a movie started to play, starring Joey the dead duck. He was walking along, and this shaded figure popped out from behind a tree and swung down at Joey from above with an axe in his hand, going from Joey's back to protrude out the other side. At first Joey ran forward, blood flowing out. Progressively, Joey started walking slower, dying, and intervals of blood on the ground appeared closer and compact, until finally Joey lay on his side and then I appeared in the scene, and watched Joey die. The couple came, and then I blacked out.

It made sense, staring at the stains on the grass. As sick as my mind re-created the image, it still made sense.

But who was the killer? Who would do this to Joey anyways? Revenge? It seemed like a sick kind of revenge to me, even if it was. I doubted that.

I stood there, staring at the scene, and a tree about fifteen feet away caught my eye. Something was on the trunk of the tree, and I walked over to the tree. It was almost like a blob of red…until I realized what it was.

Barely visible, because of the blood evaporating away, on the bark of the tree was a handprint. A **hand**print. Animals don't have handprints. Only humans do, everyone knows that.

I pressed my hand to size up with the other hand print on the tree, but my hand was slightly smaller.

So another human _was_ here on the island last night. I was sure of it. Unless I touched the tree by accident after Wolfgang was carrying me, then my whole theory would be messed up. But the handprint was larger than mine. So it was different…

Again, I'm only fourteen, and my mind is going crazy. I probably got this idea off of a horror movie about some murderer in the woods or something.

A red dragonfly buzzed right by my face, and because I have yet to afford a bug net, I took off on foot after the insect and left the crime scene.

I was sitting in the upper branches of this pine tree enjoying the view. The first pine tree I crawled up in didn't work out so well; bees came out and left their signature on my face. The one I am sitting in now is bee-free and I'm enjoying a banana when a blow-horn blew out from sea.

Kapp'n was returning with the animals from Skull Island, I figured. It was probably about noon right now I thought. They've been gone long enough for a funeral.

I sat still up in my tree, and watched the animals climb off onto the wooden dock as they walked together in a big group. I saw Nook go over to the message board to, I guess take the funeral sign down. I watched as he pulled out a hammer and pried the nails loose from the sign that was covering the whole board. When Nook was done, he laid the tools and the sign on the ground to look back at the board to see if he left anything.

Nook had a strange look on his face; I thought his eyes were looking a little funny. It was hard to tell from this distance.

The raccoon then yelled something to the other animals. I guess he said "come over here" because they all ran over and huddled around the message board. Instantly, a few screams were heard and lots of talking. I needed to see what was going on over there.

I hopped lightly on my feet as I fell out of the tree, and walked over to the crowd.

I neared the group, about twenty feet from now, but I couldn't see the board yet. A few eyes glanced at me, and stared. But I don't care.

Now I was in the group, making my way to the front, to see what was going on at the board. After a minute of fighting through the huddle, I got to the front, and all the animals stood back as I did. I gasped as I looked at the board.

Written in blood, on the left side, was a giant letter 'J', seeming to be smeared with someone's hand. At the bottom of the J where the curve was, in small letters a word was written with a finger that read "Joey".

A voice piped up in the background that belonged to Tortimer.

"It has started."


End file.
